Man fears that New Zealand residents may be living and working in “death traps”
The widower of a Christchurch earthquake victim says people around New Zealand are working in “death traps” and councils need to urgently demolish unsafe old buildings.
Phil Lindsay, whose wife, Adrienne, died in The Press building after the February 2011 quake, said some historic buildings were so dangerous that people should not be allowed in them.
He said the owners of New Zealand’s most dangerous commercial buildings should be forced to either upgrade or demolish them.
“I’m absolutely convinced that there are buildings less than 10 per cent of [the current building] code that have got people working in them,” he said.
“I think there has got to be priority by councils to identify those buildings and demolish those that are not safe.
“There are people in this country working in death traps.”
Lindsay said he was compelled to speak out because regulation changes were not happening fast enough.
He was concerned that some matters might be overlooked by the Canterbury earthquakes royal commission, which has to send its full report to the Government by November 12.
“If any other building falls down in New Zealand because of an earthquake … between now and [November], somebody wants shot, because I don’t think that’s acceptable,” he said.
“It must be an easy process to say, `It’s not safe, knock it down’.”
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